Wednesday 28 February - Boston

LIBE SHOE COUNT – 12

Here’s an idea for PP, and for any workforce in particular. Someone at Vitale goes to the trouble of printing sports articles out from the net, taking it with them to the cubicle when nature calls and leaving them behind. Thus, everyone following gets the opportunity to do a little light reading. And they’re always sports articles. Then again, the US sports can be considered ‘toilet sports’ I reckon.

Thinking, though, that if I instigated such a thing I might provide Wikipedia excerpts of random stuff – places, famous events, famous people. Just to enlighten the people of Australia.

One thing I don’t miss from Australia – Ian Chappell. I think I need confirmation from someone older than me – did this bloke actually captain Australia? All he does is whinge and berate – completely the opposite personality to the other Australian captains that I’ve seen & heard.

A common US practice is to use your initial name in public e.g. ‘George W. Bush’. The practice is applied to email signatures, to name cards at work, to business cards etc. I’m not sure why this is the case, but I wonder if its all part of the eternal push by US to differentiate themselves from the UK and other Europe countries to which it owes much of its ancestry. Other indicators of this are the use of “er” rather than “re” (for example, for center / centre and meter / metre), and a bill that was raised before the US congress to have “French Fries” renamed to “Freedom Fries”. I’m glad to see that we’re not the only ones having our hard-earned taxes wasted away by our elected so-called ‘representatives’.

This is Ryan J. Moore I (i.e. the first), signing off.

Sunday 25 February - Boston

LIBE SHOE COUNT – 12

Yep, today Libe hit the magical dozen mark. If Shane Warne gets to hold the ball to the crowd for celebrating 700 test wickets, surely Libe gets to hold a shoe up in the store and salute the other women shoppers?

Her good friend An was over from London for the weekend. Thus, the girls did what they enjoy doing best – shopped. Quite a comparison from what we’ve done this weekend with the boys up here – drank and talked absolute dribble.

A pair of Jimmy Choos too – the brand made famous by Carrie Bradshaw in numerous episodes. Just need a pair of brown shoes, some walking ones, and a good flat pair and the set is complete.

In the meantime, I need a new pair of Coles designer-label thongs.

Although I’d seen a fair bit of Boston (and so had Pete), both of us accompanied the NY4 on their Trolley Tour of Boston. Baz did his usual tour routine and started to nod off. Pete left early due to self-inflicted ‘tiredness’.

The highlight of the day might be Luke’s new “gun show” t-shirt. Here’s hoping Barrel wears it to many social functions as I’m still giggling about it now.

Caught up with a fair bit of footy action during the night. Channel 7’s first crack at footy coverage in the new age didn’t really impress – hate to say it, but I don’t think that Bruce can provide the same entertainment value that the guys from 9 have in the last 5 years.

On the other hand, Michael Voss was very promising during the Cats and Tigers game. Loved the way he picked up centre bounce issues, and particularly how good we were on the day at spreading from the contest, something we probably haven’t been great in. Joel Corey is getting to be a gun at this (happy to go on record he and Scarlett are our two best players). Good solid start to the year for the Cats, but nothing more than that – the Tigers were ridiculously easy to play against, particularly in our attacking half. We’ve got a massive road ahead of us.

What these two twits are doing next to the statue of Mr Harvard we’ll never know... and neither will they

A proper photo. Proudly displaying the colours too.

The Boston skyline from the Trolley Tour Bus heading over the Charles River. The tallest building in the picture is the Prudential tower. The farthest away half of the river has frozen over.

The entrance to the original Cheers Bar in Beacon Hill, Boston.

Barrel – quite aptly, this picture is a blur, much like Luke’s Saturday night. Once again, battling to stay awake on the tour. Sightseeing is not his forte.

Lawson took this picture, but given I gave the newspaper to Barrel in the first place, think I can lay claim to half this gem.

If there has ever been a more appropriate story for the King, then I haven't seen it.

Saturday 24 February - Boston

The Cats won. Beat Richmond by 43 Points. Otto and Moons nailed 4.

Otherwise, had a great day here.

For further info on how my day went, refer to the following link:
www.gfc.com.au

LIBE’S SHOE COUNT = 10 (for now)

After a late “Lukey Power” and “Dad N Dave”, we hit the "Frog N Toad" to have a few Sherbets on the Sam Adams Brewery Tour. Was certainly worth the price of admission ($0 – excluding a $2 donation to 2 worthwhile charities, which weren’t the Michael Jackson Pre-school and the Daniel Kerr Taxi Drivers appreciation fund). The free samples, while only small in size, were obviously double, if not triple, the alcohol content of the normal Sam Adams drop, based on the behaviour of the locals on the tour. The change of the atmosphere of the room remind me of watching a couple of PP Group 1 members have a couple of drinks and be off their heads – the names Tan, Ellis, Hollis and Gill all come to mind in particular.

The crew discovered the beauty of Fanueil Hall’s Quincy Market after that, which Barrel declared would be his source for a feed every day when he’s on tour up here in April. I doubt he’s lying either.

After another belt-bursting feed, this time at Ned Devine’s, we had the obligatory beer at the Cheers Bar – only the replica bar though, not the original. We also had to take the obligatory Max Rooke Challenge photo. For those who don’t know, the Max Rooke Challenge has been issued to Kristian, requiring him to have his photo taken in the revered number 33 with the Blue and White Hoops at numerous famous places around the world. The progress of the challenge can be seen at maxrookechallenge.blogspot.com.

Abi Griffin-Ryder, a Vitale staff member and former PP secondee to Melbourne graciously hosted us at her place in South Boston, along with her other gracious housemate Liz. These two girls demolished three or four of the biggest bottles of wine I’ve seen, with what appeared to be minimal assistance, while McCormick and Carey decided to smash Jack & Coke like it was going out of fashion. Apparently Baz can’t remember much of Playwright as a result, another bar that turns its lights on early (1am for a 2am finish!). I can remember him tearing up the dance floor though. What I didn’t see, however, was Pete nearly getting into a blue with the barman for not including a tip in the payment of his tab.

The night finished at an Italian restaurant on Hanover Street (Cafe Pompeii). If Pete had gone a little further, he might have been finished indefinitely. First, Josh was in the middle of a sentence when he happened to see Larry Lugnuts, Friday night’s hero, walking out with a pizza ‘to go’, yelled “That’s f*@#ing Larry!!!”, and promptly flew outside quicker than a cat with a lit firecracker stuck on its tail would. That was just downright hilarious to us.

Second, Pete got into a verbal stoush with a British bloke who was obviously offended with being called Irish. We think it might have been these two things combined that might have stirred up the attention of four men sitting on a table next to us. I won’t describe them in too much detail, however in Australia, they might have been considered as acquaintances of familiar names such as Jason Moran and Carl Williams. Anyway, there was no real threatening movement on their behalf, just a stir. Still, I didn’t feel like being mentioned by Sly Of The Underworld while he talked to 3AW’s Ross & John about the latest underworld ‘accident’ (by the way - currently listening to Sly as I type this, just after the rumour file has finished. The best live TV / radio I’ve heard since landing in the States for sure.)

One of the locals at the Sam Adams Brewery. The conversation went something like this:

Homer: Hey Barney, I think you've had enough.
Barney: (laying on a bench under the beer taps) Are you crazy? We still haven't tried Raspberry Duff, Lady Duff, Tartar Control Duff...

Earning points in the Max Rooke Challenge - the Cheers replica bar in Boston

The crew at Abi's & Liz's house in Southie

Josh & Larry outside Cafe Pompeii on Hanover Street in Boston.

I doubt those in attendance will ever forget those three words - "That's f%#$in Larry!"

Hopefully Larry hasn't got himself too big a feed... there's already enough pressure on his jeans as it is.

Josh heads back to my apartment with his Mr Ice - a block of ice that had been discarded from a set of ice sculptures that had been constructed just around the corner from my place.

Friday 23 February – Boston

LIBE’S SHOE COUNT = 10

Australia’s version of the New York Four – Lawson, Carey and Mr & Mrs Josh & Sarah Kennedy (or is that Curtain?) – rolled into town for the weekend tonight. You could actually add me to that number as I’d seen Boston only briefly in the last fortnight or so, which was an arrival of 11pm on Sunday (18th) and a 7am departure for Springfield the following morning. Fair to say I was happy to be back in Boston, and even happier that the decision to not to spend next week in Springfield was also made – it can get you down being out there for so long in such a limited time of secondment.

This weekend was bound to be a laugh and a half.

When the Fantastic 4 finally got in, around 11, we headed to the Bell in Hand (now known as the Cock in Hand) in the Faneuil Hall area. Actually, the rest of the crew headed there and jumped in the queue – I sat back at Pete’s for a few minutes and watched the Blue Diamond instead, once again having to put up with Bryan Martin’s poor race call on Sky Channel. He really is an ordinary caller; although no one else might think this, Greg Miles might just be the best sports commentator in Australia. I think only Richie might have him covered. Even the dulcet tones of John O’Flaherty – Mr ‘... and the colours are just obscured there for the moment’ of the Victorian Western District races fame – is preferable to Bryan.

We managed to sink a few quick ones before they turned on the lights before the official 2pm closing. That’s right, the place was still jumping at 1:30am – and on come the lights. Disappointing. It’s like being 90 points up on Collingwood in the 4th quarter and the umpires agreeing to walk off the ground.

At least we were there to meet Larry Largenuts (or ‘Lugnuts’ – its up for interpretation. I’ll use Lugnuts). I won’t spend too much time putting into words what Larry looks like. Needless to say, it may have been a sock. Coupled with a pair of jeans he may have needed to cut with the Jaws of Life to get out of, you couldn’t help but notice it. And I’m not sure that by Sunday night Sarah had recovered from being caught by Larry having a glance, but by the same token, but we got the feeling that she might not be the first female that Larry had caught.

Fair to say that Larry's most common destination on holiday is Bangkok.

Also I believe I found out why the saying goes “as happy as Larry”.

Apart from this, Larry looks like a rocker, a man that has lead quite a hard life. We managed to get anothert photo of him on Saturday night (another funny story there) – refer to that day’s details.

Back to Pete’s to watch a bit of Jackass 2 (which is balltearingly funny). Just wish Baz hadn’t got to KL’s pictures of him falling asleep on the couch. Not that I’d post them here, but as KL will attest to, I was rolling around on the floor pissing myself laughing while taking them. They might have been my finest work with the Camera yet.

Managed to get Josh & Sarah in the accommodation draft. Happy with that, as it didn’t get two males who (1) may have stunk out the living room; (2) could possibly be massive snorers, and (3) in Baz’s case, were no certainty to make it home when the rest of us did and thus might require us to get up and let him in.

Picture taken by KL of Josh with Larry Lugnuts at the Balls in Hand.

Wednesday 21 February

FYI – my US mobile number is 617 459 2715. From Australia, you’d need to call / message to +1617 459 2715. Love to hear from everyone. Particularly during any Cats games.

hollis said...
yet again some poor bad taste humour - keep it up moorey i have never learnt so many bad jokes your family christmas must be a riot

February 25, 2007 6:09 PM

India Street, Boston, from the front door to my apartment building, around 7am on a weekday morning. As you can see, about as dead as my father's hair regrowth.

Again, from outside my apartment block, looking over State Street. Behind that truck is a pub. Behind that pub is a pub. To my left is a pub. Opposite it on the other side of State Street is a pub. Behind that pub is a pub. On the previous picture, 100m or so away, were two pubs. In the back of my apartment block is a bar (not a pub). 100m down State Street, heading right is a pub. Next door to that is a Salon. Bastards... why couldn't they get a liquor licence too? How's a man supposed to get a beer around here if he needs one ???

Monday 19 February – Springfield / Westfield, MA

Golf enthusiasts do it harder than a vegetarian working in an abattoir up here in New England in winter. The courses close around October due to the cold / snow, and don’t re-open until around mid April, thus there’s not much chance of me getting a hit in. One of the rare courses that is available in winter is down in Cape Cod, over an hour away from Boston, where the coastal location makes it a bit warmer, but it’s probably too far to head down to. Sure makes you appreciate being able to play all year round in Melbourne, particularly when the world-class sandbelt courses are so close. Fair to say I couldn't see the Hennigan boys living here for too long.

The snow has sat around since last Wednesday – the weather has been sufficiently cold to ensure that the same snow hasn’t melted.

Sunday 18 February – New York

In Australia, a Sunday during winter is quite often spent watching the Lions play at the Gabba at 1pm. Today, it was spent watching The Lion King play at the Minskoff Theatre at 1pm, which overlooks Times Square on Broadway Street.

Libe’s been to about fifty thousand plays so far (that number seems to be popular when making exaggerations, hence I used it here), nearly matching her shoe purchase tally. Mary Poppins has been her favourite so far. There’s another one coming up for her this week on Wednesday. Although the tickets to The Lion King might seem fairly expense - US$131 – it is money well spent as the show is good. The only possible flaw might be that at one stage you could see a stagehand on the side of the stage assisting a cast member with their costume, which is not ideal as it takes the focus off the cast on stage and the story in action. But even Matthew Scarlett concedes a goal every now and then, so minor imperfections such as that shouldn’t diminish what was an outstanding show, and a very enjoyable day.

The sludge and garbage bags on East 55th street can make the scene from the front door step of Libe's apartment a little bit ugly, that's for sure. And a challenge to circumnavigate the road.

Libe's settled in to New York easily... and this is proof. If she doesn't look like a local, then no-one does. Particularly with the new Nine West bag on the arm.
Worth noting you can't spell 'Statue of Liberty' without 'Libe'.

Saturday 17 February – New York / Atlantic City, NJ

As per usual, today’s trip to a Museum – this time, the Museum of Natural History – once again left us wishing we had allocated more time than we actually did to see it in full. One day myself & Libe will learn from this lesson and we’ll get to see everything we want. Nevertheless, the Museum was so easy to enjoy. The stuff we saw most of were the American Mammal and Indian exhibits. If you’re in NY for a length of time it’s definitely worth doing. In fact, Museums throughout the country have been good to browse through. Even Barrel found his way to a museum this weekend (the Guggenheim – a modern art museum - even more unbelievably)!

Today we’d planned for a long one and it proved that way. Without heading back to Libe’s apartment, we jumped on a 5:30pm bus for the 2 hour-plus bus ride down to Atlantic City (‘AC’) and its mini-Las Vegas strip. Unfortunately traffic in Manhattan turned it into a 2 hr 45 min trip, keeping in theme with the delay in travel over here. We wouldn’t get back to Manhattan until 4am, the result of being what others may call “Terry Tightarses” (Dad might think that the use of the name “Terry” there is appropriate – I’d better not explain that here though) - to maximise gambling investment funds – and electing not to stay in an AC hotel but to come back the same night.

In between, we didn’t take in too much of the sights of AC in terms of quantity, despite being there for 5 hours or so. That’s because – if you exclude the strip and its numerous casinos – there’s SBA (Sweet Bugger All) really. Go one block off the strip and you’re in a big country town, say something like Geelong.

Hence why we went casino hopping. As everyone must do here on a Saturday night – there’s nothing else to do. Disappointingly, the tables here (e.g. poker, roulette) had $15+ minimum bets, thus they got none of my money. That’s their loss – I lost count of the times I was called a ‘spout’ down at Unc’s betting shop (a spout being someone who is constantly pissing money down the drain), and I probably would’ve made a handy little donation if only they’d allowed me to play for $5 or $10 so I could savour doing my hard earned $$$.

Thus myself & Libe got a new occupation for the night – slot jockeys. Although tonight was OK, I remembered why I prefer the nags over the pokies. There’s probably 3 reasons for that. One - I defy anyone who doesn’t enjoy the process of betting ‘red screen’ – involving doing the form in the last 2 minutes before the next race, watching it, cursing the jockey for a poor ride when your ‘good thing’ gets beat (despite the fact it had EPC – every possible chance) and then doing it all again for the next, which is the 2YOs in the first from Ascot. Two – the sight of looking in the wallet during the day and seeing the brand spanking new pineapples that only the bookies seem to give out is just a beautiful thing, and such a possibility (however minor it might be) lures men like Hollis and myself back to the track every weekend. Three – the pokies can become tedious quite quickly.

Having said all that, I think we both enjoyed sitting down at countless machines during the night, particularly the Donald Trump themed ones. Donald just happened to cough up a little for me – which I subsequently took, and as a result entered the Guinness Book of Records for the first person get some cash out of Donald. The bloke next me loved the fact I’d collected from him, and thought it warranted giving the Trumpster and his machine a spray, so he did in the manner which suggested that he was also a full member of the Collingwood Escaped Criminals Club, aka the Collingwood Cheer Squad.

A number of the machines had the old pull down handles on the side. Despite the fact that you could simply push the usual button to spin ‘em, the novelty decreed that I’d have to have a pull (clarification - pull the handle, that is. I know men – no, little boys – who will read that differently with their filth-riddled minds). I think the experienced slot jockey next to me was getting a little annoyed, but that’s her loss for sitting down next to an Aussie who was starting to win a little $. She should’ve known that we just keep on punting, trying to ‘win the grandstand’ (i.e. everything). It’s un-Australian not to.

Think we visited 5 casinos in all – Tropicana, Caesars, Ballys, the Wild West Casino and the Trump Casino. As in Vegas, you drink while gambling for ‘free’, the only cost being tips to the waitresses, which are generally $1 per drink. No drinking beer here at such a price – Baileys on the rocks for us two.

The casinos are fairly similar inside, quite often bland. The exception was the Wild West, which had a really good Western theme – some of the pictures below will give you an idea.

On the way back to NY City, the bus driver got us lost in New Jersey, when we were only 5 to 10 minutes away from the bus station. How this happened I don’t know. I think I was the only one on the bus not sleeping by this stage, and he probably thought he got away with it. Bad luck for him, he didn’t. If it was Ronnie Steel driving this wouldn’t have happened. It was upon this mistake that I knew he was only a bus driver, not a Coach Captain.

Readers of Lonely Planet’s US guide are given a warning on New Jersey – driving along its massive highway system (which are called ‘turnpikes’ here), one would think that NJ is a ‘hole’, because the ‘pikes are surrounded by ugly industrial areas. Let me tell you, the book ain’t wrong. The first 5 minutes after leaving the Lincoln Tunnel, which crosses beneath the Hudson River from NYC, is quite nice, but after that it’s quite an ugly city area. LP says you need to get off the highway to experience NJ and I hope for NJ’s sake they’re right. It was like the entrance to Geelong, where Shell Refinery is on one side and Corio on the other, although in this case you’ve got Shell either side.

Still yet to see a piss trough in the States. When those from the US come down under they must be shocked to have to stand at the wall.

(By the way, refusing to call those from the US ‘Americans’. America consists of North and South America, thus everyone from these two continents are effectively ‘Americans’. Perhaps they should officially use the term ‘Septics’? I know Pete probably wouldn’t enjoy this – only god knows how many times he’s dropped the phrase ‘stupid septics’,l thus he owns the phrase).

In other news, Libe’s hit the double figure mark for the number of pairs of shoes she’s bought. At this pace, there might be one Fedex plane devoted purely to getting her collection back to Oz by the time our time here is finished. But she tells me she’s getting good deals, and the shoes are the rare type that look AND fit good, so she may as well load up here with a view to having a complete set by the time she gets back down under.

P.S. They gave Washington the suffix ‘DC’ to refer to the fact that it is in the District of Columbia. If only Atlantic City (‘AC’ as called by the locals) was there as well – that would make it AC DC. Although the city might not deserve to share the name of one of the greatest rock bands ever, right up there with Frankie Goes To Hollywood and The Knack.

gh said...
again moorey you have mixed in some gold comedy with some poor acdc joke

February 25, 2007 6:07 PM

Atlantic City's Strip. On the left hand side runs the casinos - on the right hand side the shore. No-one out here as all pokies are inside the casinos.

The Tropicana casino. With no one outside you'd think the place was dead inside. Couldn't be further from the truth.

The Strip. A little bit more life here, although it still might be less than an Adelaide Oval 2nd day strip would carry.

Becoming a slot jockey - arguably as bad a jockey as Naomi Fisher. Just about to go the pull with the handle too.

Libe in the Wild Wild West Casino. Its interior really did blow the competition away - not that the other casinos had tried hard at all.

You know you've got a gambling problem when you're not looking at the machine but you continue to press the button...

Friday 16 February - Springfield / Westfield, MA

Both New York and Massachusetts (Boston / Springfield / Westfield) have copped some real snowfalls this week, certainly the biggest we’ve seen so far. The entire areas of Springfield and Westfield are white. Words can’t best describe how the white world looks, so I’ll let the pictures below speak for themselves.

There are a few tools / processes that the residents here use to help them get through such weather. These include:

• Every morning, before the morning peak hour traffic has a Jimmy Britt (sh*t), Luke Power (shower), Dad N Dave (shave) and hits the frog n’ toad (guess that one), Homer Jay comes out in his big Mr Plow truck and clears the roads. The plow is angled in such a way that the snow flies off to the side of the road. Also, a truck will drive over the highways, putting salt on the roads, which melts the snow and prevents the buildup of frost on the road.
• If the snow has been big enough, locals will have to come out into the cold and manually dig their cars out, enabling them to (1) get in and (2) get the car out of the gutter. I doubt I’ll have to do this (given I don’t have a car), which I’m not disappointed about, although the novelty factor might mean becoming a ‘pilot’ one morning in the cold won’t be too bad for the first time. (It’s called being a ‘pilot’ coz you’re picking up stuff and you ‘pile it’ here and ‘pile it’ there!)
• A number of cars have automatic car starters. Like the remote door open / close buttons, there will be a button on the key chain which will turn over the ignition and start the car, allowing the driver to head out to the car, jump in and drive away with the car already warm asap. If only there was one for a lawnmower or a whipper-snipper – who knows who many expletives might not be said in Aussie backyards. There’s an idea for Steve Kerrigan (he’s an idea’s man, Steve)
• Most cars also seem to have built-in seat warmers, much like an electric blanket operates. Very handy when your backside is frozen, let me tell you! Although Libe tells me I’ve got a ‘hot arse’, so I guess I’ll never need one...

The Mestek audit team heading out for lunch - (now please note this all PP MANAGERS and PP PARTNERS) a lunch that will be going on the WIP, as with every feed when on the road!
The world is completely white, and the snow is falling

Westfield, MA. Around midday / 1pm. Snow can make a place look beautiful in some parts while ugly and dirty in others (compare the buildings/footpaths to the roads here)

Across the road is usually a park, now just a cover of the most brilliantly-white snow you could see. The only thing more light than that is the colour of my skin, particularly after missing an Aussie summer.

There’s a post I’d forgotten to put in actually – I’ll put it in here.

The snow that fell earlier in the week is still around, and in the case of snow sitting on the side of roads, is turning into sludge, a mix of dirt and ice. It really isn’t a pretty picture, and can be a challenge to walk around / through / over, however most of the snow is still pure white.

Sunday 4 February – Boston

Superbowl Sunday

In hindsight, Superbowl Sunday wasn’t all that big. Not sure what it was - whether it was the fact that it clearly wasn’t the best two teams of the year playing, or Boston was just disappointed after the New England Patriots got knocked out in the semi finals (the ‘Conference Championships’) – but walking around the streets of Downtown Boston, both before and after the game, there was very few people around. I expected there to be a lot people in the numerous bars around our area, but there certainly wasn’t. I’ve got no doubt that the Soccer World Cup, or even a Cricket World Cup final, carries so much more an atmosphere and a real focus on the actual game than the Superbowl.

You can see why there’s such a focus on the Superbowl TV ads, and on the half time entertainment, as opposed to the actual game. There’s no doubt that the best two teams in the land played in the 2nd last game, and not the final one, but it can’t be avoided because New England and Indianapolis (the Superbowl winner) are in the same conference. I think that’s a real weakness in the sport – I can’t think of too many other sports in which the finals system is not designed to having the best two teams / individuals meet in the final.

Also supporting the possibility of the best game being played last week was the fact that there are a lot of impartial, or neutral, supporters at the game. To me it remains one of the disappointing aspects of the AFL game that members of the competing sides don’t rank high enough when it comes to being able to get Grand Final Tickets. I’d love to see the day when we have turned this around, but I can’t see it happening. Personally, I’m taking the stance that if GF tickets ever come my way and the Cats weren’t involved, I’ll give the tickets away to a member of the either of the two competing teams, as long as they can show they’ve been a true supporter all the way through (in other words, people like Pete who jump on and off their team’s bandwagon a number of times per minute need not apply for the tickets).

At least they mentioned Aussie Rules during the coverage. The game was played in wet conditions, and upon one of the many fumbles made on the night, the commentator made reference to the game being more like a game of Australian Rules. But this game had nothing on the Swans and Eagles classics of the last two years.
It’s clear who’s the most important player in the NFL team... hence Colts quarterback Peyton Manning’s choice as MVP. As discussed with Pete & his housemates (where I settled down to watch the a game), if there isn’t a standout performance from any particular player on the field, the MVP award basically automatically gets awarded to the winning team’s quarterback.

Anyway, the general conclusion was that the Ads were disappointing – not enough funny ones, and too many repeats. In regards to the half time entertainment, I’m unsure how to rank it. It was Prince (or the artist who was known as the ‘The Artist Formerly Known As Prince’), of whom I’m not a great fan, so I’ll reserve my opinion.

Libe spent the Superbowl Sunday in a pub near Greenwich Village in Manhattan, but left at half time, which was quite understandable given the game wasn’t quite as boring as bat droppings, but wasn’t far off.

Thursday 15 February - Westfield, MA

Time for a few lookalikes. Although in some cases, these people look a lot more alike in real life.

I've never spoken to David from Vitale, so I hope he doesn't mind me using his photo. Anyhow, there's not an Australian alive who doesn't consider Darryl Kerrigan one of Australia's finest blokes...

Boston Bruins head coach Dave Lewis... apparently he runs quite a tight ship, not sure whether it's a dictatorship though. I think the 'mo might be the key here. I could also be drawing a long bow

John Santamaria & 'Squeak' Scolari from the movie Baseketball. The Vitale boys could find this a little amusing

David Fennell from PP's Private Parts (oops, I mean Private Clients) & Christiaan from Hansie territory (South Africa). The pictures don't do the similarity justice, however both me & Libe agree on the resemblance.

As identified by Kristian Lawson... Johan, another South African secondee to Eisner, and the Anthony Koutoufides. Johan unfortunate to follow the South African cricket team; Kouta unfortunate to play for the Blues.
(Photo of Johan flogged from KL's blog)

On the left is Stephanie Ashworth, member of the Aussie band Something for Kate... on the right is Connie, another South African secondee. What is it about those from S.A. that make them look like Australians?

And finally, the most obvious one of course. One might be the best looking man in the world, the other one's Brad Pitt.

Broad Street from my one-bedroom apartment on the 7th floor (pic taken Sat 3 Feb)

Post Office Square, Boston. A lot of areas in Boston are near deserted on the weekend. This area, which is probably included in the Financial District, is one of them.
Like the part of the city where I live (generally called Downtown), and a lot of other areas in the CBD, this street is a one-way street. (pic taken Sat 3 Feb)

Washington Street in Downtown Crossing, Boston. Macy's - the US version of Myer - is the building on the left hand side. This pic taken late in the arvo on Sat 3 Feb.

Washington Street Boston - looking the other way (north). Filene's Basement is on the right hand side. This is a discount store with a difference. Most stock - a large majority - is discounted based on the number of days it has been sitting on the shelf. Fair to say you can get some nice bargains here. (Pic taken Sat 3 Feb)

Looking up State Street, on the corner of which my apartment is. My apartment is about 25m behind me here. Looking west. (Pic taken Sat 3 February)

Dad - when I sent you that text, at 3:30am in the morning Boston time, saying I was watching the cricket on the 'net - this is what I was referring to. Here Hayden is about to plunder another Sheep Shagger to the rope. I sat up until 6am to watch Brad Hodge get the boys over the line, which was well worth it. Absolute gold - thanks to Pete for the account! (Pic taken Sat 3 Feb)

Monday 12 February – Westfield, MA

Working in Westfield all week, which is a town about 2 hours west of Boston. The length of time that I’m meant to be out here is anywhere between 3 and 5 weeks. It’s probably not the preferred option to be working so far out of Boston, especially for such a significant portion of the secondment, but by the same token don’t think I’ll be complaining too much and throwing a tantrum. It will complicate the travel that myself and Libe are looking to do for the rest of February though.

Its over a month into our secondment now – 49 days since we left home- the time has just flown. I think both myself and Libe are slightly missing home, but there’s probably a few factors in play there. Certainly the colder weather has played a bit of havoc with us, I’ve had a fairly strong cold for a little while now that appears to be clearing up, while Libe’s had a shorter illness but was more off-colour than myself. Also the fact that we’re both working quite long hours, and haven’t seen as much of each other in the last couple of weeks, will contribute to that. There’s been plenty of things I’ve grown to recognise since leaving Oz. I’ll try to remember as many as I can here.

• How much I appreciate the work / life balance ethic at PP. I think the people at Vitale are trying to get a similar kind of balance in, however it might need a stronger push from the top down. There are people at Vitale who are in the best years of their life – generally in their 20s – whose life revolves around work. At a minimum six, often seven days a week. I wonder whether these people are more likely to have a mid life crisis than someone who works 5 days and who spend their weekends removed from the office, doing the things they enjoy. I just hope PP never gets to this; although I believe that since I’ve started work the demands on managers at 15 William have gone a little too far (which could be supported by recent resignations).
• The whole Saturday culture at Vitale is quite surprising. As a grad (a first year staff member - or a ‘new hire’ here) you’re expected to go into the office on a Saturday even though there may not be anything for you to do. It’s all about being seen. Why give up a huge part of your weekend just to be seen to be working hard? I’ll call this work ethic ‘live to work’.
• It’s now that I’m glad for the times when you’re in the PP office at 6 and someone like Mark Harrison walks past on his way out and asks why you’re still there. I’m also really grateful for time in lieu. I don’t think it’s something that PP’s culture could survive without in hindsight. There’s might be some partners (no names to be mentioned) who have been pushing to remove it for quite a while, knowing that it will put a little more cash in their wallets. Irrespective of the business implications – I think the loss of time in lieu would cause significant departures from the office anyway and thus would be a dangerous business decision – I think most (if not all) PP partners care about their staff and want them to have a well balanced life, thus I’m confident that the worst won’t happen.
• Since arriving, I have become so much more a ‘work to live’ person, as opposed to ‘live to work’. Since getting out of the normality and routine of a 9 to 5 job in Melbourne, I’ve just woken up that there is just so much more to life to experience than earning a heap money, and than a highly paid position. True, I’d still like to have a well paid position down the track. But I will never let myself get to the stage where it takes 60 hours a week of work to do so.
• Before lifting off the Tullamarine tarmac, I couldn’t gauge how good Melbourne was because I had no basis on which to judge it. Since leaving, I well and truly appreciate just how good a city it is. The award that it regularly rates highly in – the ‘World’s Most Liveable City’ – isn’t a fallacy. Boston is a great city. New York is just magnificient. But sitting on the banks of the Yarra at Southbank on a warm summer night, looking over the city, is a good as it can get. Being able to go to the footy and get so close to the action – which is so hard to do here – is not just a right in hindsight, it’s a privilege. The Spring Racing Carnival. It’s as good as any city in the world.
• Sydney is an hours flight away. Leaving work on a Friday at 5:15, I could be in Sydney within hours. The magnificent scenery of Tasmania – which I’ve always wanted to get back to since I was last there with Pop – is an overnight boat ride away. The Great Ocean Road is at my doorstep, yet I’ve never been. Since getting into Boston, we’ve been able to get ourselves to foreign places, using transport systems we’re not familiar with, with little hindrance at all, all because our time here (in the US) is limited. Who said our time in Australia isn’t limited? I’m not going to take these places for granted from now on and just think that because they’re an hour away I can go whenever I want. I can’t stress that enough to anyone who lives in Australia- appreciate what we’ve got and just get there. I admire the approach of Ross Carroll who just packed up and went around Australia with his van – I’d love to follow in his footsteps one day. If the Cats win their first NAB Cup game and get to go to Darwin for a second round match, I’ll be a little envious.
• I’m starting to miss footy. The longer I’m away, the more I’m appreciate the role I’ve got with the footy club and how much I enjoy it. Although I don’t want this period of travel to end, by the same token I can’t wait to get back into the box for the R12 game against Adelaide (hoping I’ve still got the job when I get back, but won't be disappointed if I don't – I’m certainly not taking anything for granted and going to assume that things can’t change at the highest level of footy, because they do). This time of year is a great time in the footy year, because there’s hope for all involved. At the moment, because I’ve got time to think about footy, I’m missing it. The home and away season kicks off exactly the same weekend as our 2-and-a-bit months of non-stop travel does; I doubt that I’ll be thinking about how much I miss footy then because I won’t have time to think that, we’ll just be so excited by each new day of discovery.

I’ve just read over my whole blog to date. Apart from the fact that it’s as big as a New York phone book – big enough for it to apply to be a contestant on The Biggest Loser - perhaps the one thing that struck me most is that most of what I’ve said about the US has been a little negative or critical. In hindsight, probably over critical. Reading all this, plus the thoughts above, you would think I’m ready to jump back on the next plane to Melbourne.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s a lot of great and wonderful things about the US. In terms of cultures, I’m sure that they are closer to ours than most others. I’ve been lucky to meet a lot of great locals, particularly those who work at Vitale. The people here are very similar to us in how accepting they are of foreigners, perhaps even more so. I’ve loved Boston and New York, two places I’d love to come back to and see again, particularly in their summers when the different climate would provide a sharp contrast to the cities we’ve experienced so far. And I’m sure that compared to places coming up for myself & Libe’s tours, such as Peru and Egypt, the US is going to be so easy to communicate effectively and to get ourselves around in.

Sunday 11 February - Boston

After a slow start to the morning, Libe & I finally made it down to lunch with Simone and Sophie at American Joes on Newbury Street. I’m taking a disciplined line from now on – when in doubt, just order the entree size. Again, the food at American Joes was massive. An entree (called an appetiser or starter here) can fill you up as much as a main meal might. The main meal (figure this out – called an ‘entree’) just leads to the American overweight culture. Mind you, Australia are getting bigger as a nation too. So from now on – just the entree. That’s the ‘appetiser’ or ‘starter’ kind of entree.

Walking back through the Boston Public Garden after dusk with Libe, there were quite a number of people who were skating on the frozen lake. This was the same lake that we spotted on our second day in Boston. To see it frozen over was quite a surprise. Even more surprising would be if you saw me on the such ice at any time in the future – purely for the fear of falling through, the chances of which would increase as I would spend half my time ice skating falling flat on the backside.

Ice skating at night on the frozen pond in Boston Public Gardens. Fair to say I was a bit reserved about stepping on the water (thus I didn't) but the locals weren't so restrained.

Sat 10 February - Boston

Last night Libe arrived in Boston via the Greyhound Bus with Simone and Sophie. The four of us spent the afternoon wandering along the north-eastern part of the Freedom Trail, a 4.5km walk, marked by a red brick line in the footpaths, which takes in locations which are significant to Boston’s part in the late 1700’s revolution. This revolution led to the American colonies becoming independent of Britain and the formation of the land of the Septics (aka USA).
Again the Quincy Market has proven its worth to us for a quick decent feed. Being only 200m away from my apartment, it is so easy to drift over here when cooking is not an option, or is an option but I/we can’t be buggered (which is most nights). The Quincy Market is a long building full of food stalls, with a myriad of options. The Thai Green Chicken Curry goes especially good when I can get it. I say ‘when I can get it’ because I’m having more trouble than a pregnant nun communicating with those behind the counter.

Of the north-eastern part of the Freedom Trail, the best parts were:

• The Paul Revere House
• The walk along the quaint, European-feel streets of the North End. Most of the North End is known as ‘Little Italy’.
• A church with superboxes. No joke, this church had no pews, just small little boxes that the congregation used to buy, with the biggest cash buying the box in the best position (ie. Under the celebrant’s nose hairs).
• The USS Constitution, and old Colonial warship which sat in frozen waters on the north side of the Charles River, only a couple of hundred metres from the Vitale office. Unfortunately we only had 10 minutes to look at the boat, because it was the last ship left in the US that hadn’t been sent to the war in Iraq, and was committed to leave for Baghdad in the morning.
• The walk across the Bridge of Death. This is the bridge which crosses the Charles River from the City over to Charlestown, where the VCC office is. I've christened it the 'Bridge of Death' as during a couple of morning walks to the office from my apartment, it has resulted on me coming closer to being on death's door than ever before. The Bridge is significantly more open to the elements than any other part of the morning commute, particularly the freezing north-westerly arctic winds. And the bridge just seems to go on forever. The girls had the pleasure of sharing my pain this arvo.

By just after 4 we were in the Black Rose having a drink, which finished up with a feed with Pete, Alice and Andrew at Bertucci’s (which – in typical fashion – resulted in us having an enormous amount of food), and a few beers at McFaddens. All these places are no more than 100m from my apartment – I think there would be a good 12 to 15 bars within 200m of the pad (I’ll have to count one of these days).

mum said...

Hi Ry,

It looks really cold over ther, we are in the middle of some hot weather - mid to high 30's for next few days. Boston looks lovely - very old almost like you would imagine to see in the UK. You might come home as fat at mud by the sound of the huge meals they have in the states. Hope you and Libe are both well. We are all really missing youmum xxx

Feb 15, 2007 2:12 AM

Welcome to the USA... land of the Septics.

Crap photo this! Although some might think this is a pisser!

(I was gunning for the Guiness Book of Records for the most bad jokes in a blog record, but stopped when I thought it was getting a bit repetit-it-it-it-it-it-ive. There's another one!)

Hanover Street in Boston's North end

Paul Revere's House, the interior of which was from the 1700s and 1800s. Precisely the same century as the time when my father started using some of his jokes, and only shortly after I started using mine.
Safe to say the cars out the front hadn't been there as long.

Further along the Freedom Trail - the 4 walkers. We didn't line up on purpose from tallest to shortest, but I do like the way I look like a tall person in this photo.
Paul Revere is celebrated all along the Freedom trail. I'm guessing this is how the word 'revere' got its meaning.

The Christ Church in the North End. Here are the aforementioned ‘superboxes’. I assume this indicates that the US sports are that bad that there are companies willing to put up $ for a box in a church rather than the stadium?

The Vitale, Caturano & Co Office, and 3 accountants from the New-York based enemy

The much-loved Bridge of Death. Typically freezing. The Marriot Hotel is the closest building to the camera. Behind it, and to the right, is the Vitale office. It's a little ironic that walking on the "Freedom" Trail takes you over the Bridge of Death and past the office, isn't it?

On board the USS Constitution, due to set sail for Iraq with all other US army equipment soon!

Looking over the side of the USS Constitution, into the frozen river above. There'd be no need to go to a servo or a bottle-o to buy ice here; it's just everywhere in places, especially outside the city.

Andrew (Pete's housemate), Simone and Libe at McFadden's bar.

Friday 9 February – Boston / Salem NH

Have been working up at Salem, New Hampshire (NH) all week. Only about a 35 minute drive, however two contrasting places. There’s no snow on the ground in the city. However, if you drive north for 10 minutes, there starts to be a bit. When you get to Salem, the ground is completely white.

The behaviour of drivers over here is a little bit different. The following points spring to mind:

• There is a lot more tailgating compared to Australian drivers. If you’re in the ‘fast’ lane – which is the left one over here – and there’s a car in front of you holding you up, rest assured there’ll be someone who’ll come and sit right up your backside until you both can get through. And there’s every chance it will be at 110 to 120 km/h.
• There’s a lot more accidents over here that I’ve seen, particularly someone having run up the backside of another. Refer to the comment above and you can put 2 and 2 together – and surely get 4!
• Despite being more aggressive to others in a car, the drivers here are far more friendly to pedestrians than in Oz. Throughout the city on the less busy streets, drivers quite often will stop to allow you to cross in front of them.
• There’s a lot of merging without indicating, particularly on the freeways. And with the greater variance in speed between the slow and fast cars (travelling in the right hand lane generally results in speeds of 110 to 120 km/h), I think I can see (again) why I've seen so many accidents.
• Touch parking (hitting either of the other cars in front or behind you while trying to fit into a parallel spot) seems to be almost accepted here. We watched tonight from the pub as a bloke gave a BMW parked behind him two decent ‘lovetaps’, so much so that the Beamer moved, but proceeded to get out of his car, not even check out the damage and/or bat an eyelid, grab his takeaway chow and drive off. No number left or anything, but it seems to be a common thing as I’ve seen it a number of times – and I’ve seen cars that have been parked while still touching!

Thursday 8 Boston - Salem, NH and Boston, MA

FYI - I've recently updated the blog quite a bit. In particular, there's been commentary updated back to the the Saturday 27th January, and there's a few pictures that have been included (these are on Sunday January 14 at Harvard Uni, and from Saturday 27th January onwards). I'll try to do things in a more orderly fashion down the track.

Also, if pictures don't load on a page, just right click and select 'Show Picture'. Also, you can click on any picture and can see the full-size version of it.

Wednesday 7 February - Boston

Tonight was our second trip to an NBA game. The Celtics had now lost 15 straight and were copping it from all sides. Most of the media are more harsh than ours in that there’s no real support being provided for them – instead of perhaps providing a level-headed critique, everytime they’re brought up on radio and print its about how much they ‘suck’. They have a dedicated TV team who follow them wherever they go and broadcast them on Fox Sports New England, who I reckon provide a really balanced look at every game the Celtics are in, despite the fact that they clearly support the team during the coverage.

Tonight was the against the Miami Heat, last year’s champions (I am not going to call them the ‘world champions’ – they clearly don’t deserve it). Their team includes a few famous names – Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning in particular. The one player I’d never heard over before, but is their gun player, is a bloke name Dwyane Wade (yes, I’ve got that spelling right, it’s ‘Dwyane’). Only in his fourth year, Wade clearly is going to be one of the guns in the league for a long time yet.. Despite being up by 10 at quarter time, the Celtics gave away their lead within the first 2 minutes of the 2nd quarter (which is so typical) and lost by 12, Wade shooting 30.

A couple of odd things about the night:

• Buying tickets off a scalper while walking to the Garden. We think we had a win – although the tickets said $10 on them, we couldn’t find tickets on Ticketmaster during the day for less than $40, so parting with $20 for similarly located tickets wasn’t too bad I think. Dad would be proud. Daryl Kerrigan might be even more proud.
• Pete’s housemate Andrew self-admittedly isn’t a basketball fan. And the game was over quite early. But still not sure that excuses him for falling asleep at the game. Quite early in the game too. And he’s a baseball fan! Baseball is a ‘toilet’ sport – they happen to play only 162 games per home and away season, plus finals – and everyone I’ve spoken to has said they need to drink at the game. If they think cricket is boring, at least we’re happy to sit there without a frothy and watch a full days cricket.

Since first catching up with Pete in Boston, I've learnt one personality trait of his that he has developed since passing through US Immigration in September - his ability to raise everything he doesn't like about the US publicly. I doubt there's been a day go by when Pete hasn't brought up something he doesn't like about the Yanks, otherwise nicknamed by Aussies as the 'Septic Tanks' or 'Septics'.

Hence it was no surprise to see this bottle of 'Listerine AntiSeptic - Pete' on the shelves on CVS Pharmacy today.